Ask the Author: Lily Paradis (Ignite and Volition)

   Hey guys!
   This week on Ask the Author I have the lovely Lily Paradis, author of Ignite and Volition, for you guys. I read and reviewed Ignite back in January and already started reading Volition, which I quite enjoy so far, so of course I had to ask her for an interview!
Here are her books and her answers:

Ignite by Lily Paradise
Published: August 26th 2014 by Empire Books
Number of Pages: 326 Pages (Paperback)
Series:Yes, #1

   After her father’s untimely demise in a mining accident and her mother’s abandonment, Lauren Lindsay is no stranger to loss. She’s used to living life for one person: herself. That is, until another family tragedy thrusts three children into her care and uproots her life in ways she could never imagine.
   Lauren's first instinct is to run, until she meets their striking, mysterious neighbor Dean Powell. Their immediate chemistry and his connection with her late father just might be enough to keep her in town long enough to uncover pieces of her past that she never had answers to. Dean’s shady past and her reluctance to trust him could cost her the life she's always been searching for, but will she run back to her old life?
   Or will she choose to stay and live the life her father always imagined for her?

Volition by Lily Paradis

Published: January 16th 2015 by Empire Books

Number of Pages: 396 Pages (Paperback)

Series: No

   You know that feeling in the pit of your stomach that stays with you, then tears you apart slowly at first, and all at once shreds every fiber of your being?

   It’s because you’re contradicting the universe.

   Everything lines up so perfectly that you couldn’t have imagined it to work out better, but then you have to go and do everything humanly possible to ruin it because you can’t stand to have it go right?

   That’s what I did.

   I did it because there’s a darkness that surrounds me, and I think I want it there.

   My name is Tate McKenna, and my soul is blacker than my heart.

Interview with Lily Paradise

   1 – Could you tell us a little something about your two books, Ignite and Volition?
   Sure! I guess I would classify them both as YA/NA Contemporaries. I say YA because they don't contain anything too explicit, but NA because I like to write about characters in their late teens/early twenties! They are both extremely different in nature. Read Ignite if you're looking for something fluffier, and Volition if you want something that will make you think.

   2 – Volition, and its protagonist Tate McKenna, are more on the ‘dark type of story’ side, where did you get the idea for it from?
   I got the idea from my own personality, as selfish as that sounds. I was tired of seeing female characters as tropes. I wrote Lauren in Ignite as a typical (ish) main character that you'd see in a popular book. Some people reacted well to her, but the ones who didn't like her inspired me to write Tate. Before I wrote Volition I felt like I had to write books that would fit in and sell. I didn't write what I wanted, I wrote what I thought everyone else would want. So then I decided to write a main character who had thoughts like I did and acted more like me, and Tate McKenna was born.

   3 – What made you ultimately decide that you do want to publish Volition, despite your doubts?
   The foreword can probably explain this better than I can, but a good friend of mine really connected with Tate after many, many beta readers did not. I was afraid people were not going to like this book because it wasn't the fluffy, air-head kind of stuff that can be popular right now. Tate wasn't giving and wonderful and oh-so deserving of a man. No. She's the darker part of all of us that we like to pretend doesn't exist. I wanted people to relate to that, and to my surprise, they did!

   4 – How long did it take you to write Ignite and Volition? Which took you longer and why?
   I honestly don't know because I don't remember when I started writing Ignite officially. They took probably around the same amount of time. It takes me forever to write a book anyway because (at the time) I was getting my undergraduate degree, and now I'm in graduate school. I wish it was my full time job! That's up to you all, so please tell your friends! :)

   5 – You are currently working on Ragnarök which is a very different type of story compared to Ignite and Volition, which were both contemporary novels. Could you maybe tell us a little bit about it?
   Well, Ragnarök looks like it's different, and it is, but it's not as different as it seems. It's an end of the world novel, as you can tell by the title. But it's not fantasy, and it's not really science fiction. It's not even too far into the dystopian genre, but its not contemporary either. I literally have no idea where to put this book, and people are going to want a genre. I still haven't come up with what to call it. It's going to have "before" and "after" chapters, so I suppose you could call the "before" chapters Contemporary? I'm not fully finished with it yet so I don't want to say too much just in case I change things. I can tell you that Rafe Kiley is going to be your new book boyfriend. Originally this book had four different perspectives but I split it up into two books. The second one will be called Leviathan!

   6 – How did you feel when the first reviews for Ignite came in?
   I think I was honestly just more in shock that people were reading words I'd written. It was surreal! Of course it was hard when reviews bashed the editing because I'd had such an issue with that company (you can read more in a blog post on my website) but overall, I was just really happy that people were (for the most part) enjoying something I'd written.

   7 – What is your process for deciding on a book title? Do they change over the course of writing?
   Once I decide on a title, it stays. I usually even decide before I start writing it. I really like strong, one-word titles. I also like them to have a lot of meaning regarding what the content of the novel is! If you ever can't figure out why I decided to use a certain title, google the definition and think about the novel. I never pick randomly.

   8 – Do you have a specific writing schedule or do you write whenever inspiration hits you?
   I don't have a schedule because I'm so busy with classes, but I find writing at night works best for me. That's when my mind is most creative - when I'm about to fall asleep! I also have an issue where I can't FORCE myself to write. It all just comes out terrible, and I should probably work on that.

   9 – Coffee or Tea?
   I love both! Probably coffee, though.

   10 – What are your three favorite authors and, if you’d run into them on the street, what would you say or ask them?
   My three favorites are Garth Nix, Cormac McCarthy (No Country for Old Men and The Road are my favorites), and Meg Cabot. Interesting trio, I know. I'm pretty sure I'd just fangirl. Kind of like if I ever met Leonardo DiCaprio.

   11 – If you’d be forced to participate in The Hunger Games, as female from District 12, what would be your strategy? Fight or flight?
   I'd like to think that I'd channel my inner Tate, fight, and win the whole thing. Hmmm... maybe I should write that for fun...

About the Author

   Lily lives with her family and loves reading, running, and hiking. Although she's a Colorado native, New York City is her favorite place in the world and fosters her borderline unhealthy obsession with the Empire State Building and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Ignite is her debut novel.
   She loves hearing from her readers and can be reached at paradis.lily@gmail.com.
   Find more information at lilyparadis.com
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   P.O. Box 270514 Louisville, CO 80027